oil pressure

[thebigstroke]

what should the oil pressure be running on a 7.3
and about how long should it take to pick up the pressure. i installed an aftermarket gauge to get an accurate reading. thanks

[HVAC SuperTech]

it should be 20 PSI at idle when at operating temp, and WOT, should be somewhere in the neighborhood of 40-50 PSI. on a cold start, mine is sometimes upwards of 80 PSI depending on how cold it is outside. Presure should come up almost immediately when you crank the truck up. As the LPOP is turning when the crank is turned over. Where did you install the sensor to get your readings from? It should have been on the last rib of the block on the dirvers side where the plug is right before the oil cooler assembly.

[thebigstroke]

i installed it on top of the hpop res. in place of the stock oil sender. having it there its running about 40psi cold at idle and it probably took it about 15-20 sec. to build up any pressure

[HVAC SuperTech]

take it from where I described. Its the best place. on top of the HPOP res will take longer, as the HPOP res is one of the last places to get oil pressure. You get a more accurate reading from the rib of the engine block near the oil cooler. you will have a square 1/4" plug to take out, and put the sender in.

[thebigstroke]

ok ill get it from there in the mornin and let you know what i find out.

[thebigstroke]

which port is the one that i need to use. the first one i pulled was the water jacket. then there is one below that that did nothing when hooked up to my gauge. so i guess im not to sure which sure which plug i need to be pulling out to hook up my gauge.

[HVAC SuperTech]

Its on the last rib of the block, right before the oil cooler. it will be a square headed plug on the rib. It is about half way up on the block if I remember right, I dont have my truck here now, so I cant go get a picture of where it is.

[alabamafrog]

I got mine on the corner of the block where the tranny bolts onto on the driver’s side bottom tip corner. I have my oil temp gauge at the oil galley plug close to the motor mount. Before rebuild I had about 75 cold and 40 hot cruising and 20 hot idling. Now I got about 100 cold and 70 hot cruising and 50 hot idle. Mine is a cheapo electric gauge so I’m not sure if I trust it to be real accurate. For those who don’t already know, the factory gauge is NOT a gauge, it is an on/off idiot light set around 9 psi.

[thebigstroke]

ok i got the gauge put in finally and its carrying about 50psi at idle cold, but its takin probably 7-15 seconds to pick up pressure. so im guesing that i probably need to look into replacing the lpop?

[alabamafrog]

I'd check the check valve in the oil filter housing, I've heard sometimes they fall out during a filter change.
How long does it take the factory gauge to turn on?